System Shock
System Shock was the first System Shock game. It was followed up in 1999 by the sequel, System Shock 2. System Shock was a critical success and considered far ahead of it's time. It was revolutionary, being one of the first first-person experiences ever to allow players to look up and down, jump, lean, crouch, etc. It was also praised for it's incredible story telling and atmosphere, both of which would be copied by many games later on, such Dead Space and Singularity. Today it is considered a cult classic, and many have gone as far as to call it a masterpiece. However, despite the praise, the game sold poorly. Plot The story of System Shock begins on 7th April 2072, when an unnamed hacker breaks into the network of the TriOptimum corporation and tries to access their confidential files. TriOptimum security forces quickly track down and apprehend him. The hacker is contacted by a TriOptimum Marketing VP, Edward Diego, who offers him a deal: the hacker will help Diego reprogram SHODAN, the AI in control of TriOptimum's space station Citadel, and, in return, not only will his offence be forgotten, he will also be rewarded by a military-grade neural interface. The hacker, not having much choice anyway, agrees. He is taken to the Citadel station and there he makes modifications to SHODAN's programming to remove her security subroutines. Satisfied, Diego has the neural implant installed into the hacker's brain. On 6th June, the operation is successfully completed and the hacker is put into a 6-month healing coma. Meanwhile, TriOptimum sends a security operative, Bianca Schuler, to investigate Diego, whom the corporation suspects to be involved in illegal mutagen experiments. Schuler believes that the suspicions are true, but is unable to find any evidence, becase Diego now has control over SHODAN and is able to hide or erase all records of his activities. On 9th September 2072, SHODAN bypasses its ethical subroutines and starts to take over the station. At first, everything seems like a few unrelated malfunctions - a security bot malfunctions on the flight deck, access codes are randomly changing and are being displayed on computer screens throughout the station and bio-contamination leaks start appearing, while at the same time all enviromental suits are moved to the storage level. Citadel's crew is unable to determine the cause of this, as all critical programs and computer nodes are made inaccessible by SHODAN. On 1st October, SHODAN seals off Beta grove, one of the pods with simulated outdoor environment, attached to the station's executive level, while the bio-contamination around it keeps getting worse. Three days later, a group of TriOptimum executives, who reside on the station, try to leave using one of the groves, which can be separated from the main body of the station. After the pod is jettisoned, though, SHODAN disables its life support systems and the executives all die within a few hours. Three days later, the grove jettisoning procedure is changed so that it becomes practically impossible for the Citadel crew to jettison more groves, especially the Beta grove where SHODAN is performing experiments. On 10th October, a shuttle carrying TriOptimum security force, who are coming to help with the situation on the station, tries to land in one of the Citadel's flight bays, but is destroyed by the automated defense system. Two days later, it is discovered that an unidentified signal was sent to the defense cannons by SHODAN milliseconds before they fired. Don Travers, head of the flight deck maintenance, tries to disconnect the local CPU nodes, but is stopped by seemingly malfunctioning maintenance droid. On 16th October, the mutagen virus, which Diego and SHODAN have been working on, is released into the Beta grove and the contamination rises rapidly. Diego then reveals to the station's crew that he is actually working with SHODAN and escapes before they can respond. Shortly after, security bots massacre all crew members on the station's executive level. On other levels, the crew tries to organize resistance against SHODAN's bots, but they are largely unsuccessful. They find that the healing suites aboard the station have been modified to turn dead crew members into cyborgs, but are prevented from accessing them and restoring their original functionality. Bianca Schuler tries to reach the bridge, located on the topmost level of the station, carrying an isolinear chip created by the resistance, which should at least temporarily paralyze SHODAN. However, after several attempts she is captured and brought to a containment cell on the bridge. Meanwhile, Nathan D'Arcy, a researcher aboard the station, finds out that the station's mining laser is being charged for reasons unknown. D'Arcy suspects an evil plan of SHODAN and comes up with a plan to destroy the laser: activate the station's radiation shields, override safety protocols and fire the laser while the shileds are up. However, the resistance is unable to carry out this plan. Note: This is where the game starts. On 6th November, the hacker wakes from his healing coma and finds the station deserted, except for hostile mutants, cyborgs and security robots. He is contacted by Rebecca Lansing, a TriOptimum security operative from Earth, who informs him of the situation and tells him to find doctor D'Arcy and find out what he can about the laser. The hacker finds D'Arcy's logs (the doctor died 2 weeks ago) and moves to execute his plan - he powers up the shields using the radioactive X-22 isotope, disables the override and fires the mining laser. Just like doctor D'Arcy predicted, the laser is destroyed. After destroying the laser, the hacker goes to the executive level to jettison Beta grove, where the mutagen virus is being cultivated. After getting an environmental suit from storage, he has to enable jettisoning in all groves (because of additional security added by SHODAN) including the contaminated Beta grove. He then jettisons the Beta grove into space (years later, Beta grove lands on Tau Ceti V and the mutated lifeforms inside become The Many). However, as the Beta grove flies off, the hacker is contacted by Rebecca Lansing, who informs him that a surge has been detected in the data link between Citadel and Earth - SHODAN is downloading itself into Earth's computer network. In order to prevent this, the hacker must obtain plastique explosives and destroy four relay antennas on the engineering level of the station. When they are destroyed, Rebecca tells the hacker that she finally convinced TriOptimum executives to destroy the entire station to stop SHODAN. To do this, the hacker must destroy all computer nodes in the first 6 levels of the station, because SHODAN is using the CPU power rapidly change the systems authorization code. After destroying the CPUs and obtaining the code, the hacker goes to the reactor core and sets it to overload. Then, he heads to the flight deck to board an escape pod and escape the station before it blows. However, SHODAN prevents him from reaching the pod. Rebecca suggests an alternative solution - pass though the heavily guarded engineering and security levels up to the bridge, which can be separated from the station in an emergency. The hacker reaches the bridge moments before the station is destroyed. On the bridge, the hacker finds the isolinear chip, which Bianca Schuler was planning to use against SHODAN. He also confronts and defeats Diego, who has been turned into a cyborg. When the chip is installed, the hacker uses his neural interface to enter cyberspace and battle SHODAN. After a long and exhausting fight, the hacker is victorious. After returning to Earth, the hacker is hailed as the hero of the TriOptimum corporation and he is offered a job. However, after sending a short farewell note to Rebecca Lansing, he disappears because he does not like the idea of working for the corporation that got him into the mess in the first place. Besides, he's worried that TriOptimum might wish to remove his neural interface, which is not exactly legal. Soon afterwards, the hacker goes back to what he's best at - illegally accessing yet another corporation's network... Enemies *Humanoid mutant *Zero-G mutant *Invisible mutant *Avian mutant *Drone Cyborg *Cyborg Assassin *Cyborg Enforcer *Cyborg Warrior *Serv-Bot *Maintanence Robot *Security 1 Robot *Hopper Gameplay System Shock is a real-time action adventure video game, that shares it's game play pedigree with the earlier Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (which is also developed by Looking Glass Studios). Unlike other First-Person games at the time, System Shock featured actual 3D Environments, which let the player move about freely and fully without restriction. Like Ultima Underworld, System Shock features an emphasis on player choice and emergent game play, letting the player drive the game play, instead of the game designer. System Shock Portable Main Article: System Shock Portable System Shock Portable was made by a fan so that people could play System Shock without problems on newer computers such as Windows XP. Trivia *Despite being critical praised and considered a masterpiece, it, like it's successor, System Shock 2, sold very poorly. See Also *System Shock Walkthrough *System Shock 2 *SHODAN *The Hacker Category:Games Category:System Shock